The Start of Something New
by tradition
Summary: Sakura is frustrated at her life and her team and especially Sasuke-kun, who has not responded to her advances despite being on Team 7 for weeks! Shino is a witness to her revelation.
1. Gotta Go My Own Way

_A dismissive snort. "Tch. Pathetic."_

The word rolled around in her head. Sasuke-kun was usually cold, but today he had looked at her with dead, dispassionate eyes. The insults rolled off his tongue as easily as ever, but she had been a more frequent target than Naruto. Sakura had hoped that time spent as a team would soften his attitude toward her, that they could _finally_ be together like she dreamed. If anything, the time they shared with Team 7 was pushing Sasuke-kun further and further away.

After the disastrous mission to Wave, the boys had thrown themselves into training with a religious fervor that had intimidated her. When she tried to participate, Naruto would throw his punches and Sasuke-kun would straight up ignore her attacks. After enduring this for a week, she finally took herself off to the side, to try and work on her katas alone.

It was during this time that the boy of her dreams had deigned to look over and uttered those words.

 _Pathetic! I'll show you pathetic, Sasuke-kun!_

"ARGH!" She was alone on the training ground now, beating one of the posts maliciously.

 _Stupid Sasuke-kun with his perfect eyes and his amazing jutsus and his … HIS DUMB HAIR!_

Sakura threw a roundhouse kick at the poor post and was vaguely satisfied at the wavering the kick had produced.

"That is not an efficient way to train in taijutsu." Sakura froze and then turned around to see Aburame Shino behind her. He had a glass jar in one hand as he knelt on the ground, trying to scoot some specimen or other inside.

"O-oh, well, this is mostly just stress relief," she said sheepishly. "My teammates can be a handful sometimes and it gets frustrating."

"Yes, their rivalry must be distracting you from proper training, as your taijutsu form is very weak." With that, he turns his back on her to inspect a large anthill.

Sakura forgot being embarrassed in favor of immediately puffing up in anger. "I'm _not_ weak!"

"I did not say _you_ were weak, just your form. I do not have enough data on your other abilities to gauge your level."

She deflated and half-heartedly aimed a punch at the post again.

" _Pathetic."_ Sasuke-kun's voice wouldn't leave her alone. She really thought he would change. She even sort of likes that annoying Naruto after being stuck with him so often. Why couldn't Sasuke-kun stop being so … ugh?!

 _Ugh, whatever._

She slapped at the post in a decisive manner.

 _I can't do this anymore. It's too much to deal with. I can barely manage to keep myself alive on missions out of the village, let alone attract a boy who won't be attracted to anything._

Maybe he'll come around someday, but she's not going to waste any more effort on the boy.

"Shino-san! Are you very busy right now?"

"I suppose it depends on your definition of "very", but I am occupied with collecting beetles at the moment. Why do you ask?"

"Would you like to spar? I know you said my taijutsu is weak, but I can't get better without practice."

"That is acceptable. I won't go easy on you."

"Bring it on!"

* * *

Twenty minutes later saw Sakura gasping for breath as Shino remained relatively unruffled, though his jacket was dirty where she got in a few good punches.

"Sakura-san, if you continue to work on your speed and form, I think you could be a formidable fighter. You have a lot more natural strength than I was anticipating." He placed a palm over his ribs, his face minutely echoing with the shadow of a wince.

She brightened. "Really? No one has ever told me that before. Kakashi-sensei seems to think I would be better at genjutsu. That is, when he bothers to deal with me instead of the boys."

Shino frowned. "Your sensei does not do individual training with you?"

She looked bewildered. "Is that a thing? Kakashi-sensei mostly sends us on D-Rank missions and oversees the Sasuke-kun and Naruto beating the hell out of each other. I try to work on my own training while they do that."

 _Not very well,_ she admitted to herself. _I'm usually watching Sasuke-kun … no, just Sasuke. I need to treat him like any other teammate if I'm gonna get over these feelings._

"The reason we are assigned to jonin-sensei is for them to pass down non-clan based knowledge via various methods. Otherwise Hokage-sama is just wasting valuable resources by utilizing them as babysitters."

Sakura sighed. "Well, to be fair to Kakashi-sensei, I have not been the best pupil. I was … distracted."

Shino nods knowingly. "By Uchiha Sasuke. He is well-thought of by many of the kunoichi in our age group."

She blushed. "But not the boys, huh? I suppose us girls made it pretty obvious."

"Uchiha has enough raw talent and drive to excel, but his arrogance will lead to his downfall eventually."

She raised an eyebrow. "Arrogance? What would you call your attitude, Shino-san?"

"Confidence. I like fighting. I am good at it and I do not underestimate my opponents."

She poked him in the ribs and he visibly winced this time. "Seems like an underestimation to me, Shino- _kun_."

He looked vaguely confused at her teasing and he said, "I knew your form was sloppy. No matter the strength, I had the speed to win."

She laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, Shino-kun. I know I would never have won against you."

"I did not realize we were close enough to use such terms, Sakura- _chan_."

She felt her face flush, but she shrugged anyway. "You have been a better friend to me today than anyone on my team has been in weeks. I can stop if you want."

"No, this afternoon has been … adequate."

"Ah, Shino-kun, we need to work on your exaggeration! It's getting out of hand." Sakura laughed again as he just stared blankly at her. "Oh well, it was a terrible joke anyway. Do you want to get some dango? My treat."

"Why?"

"Why not? We've spent a perfectly adequate afternoon together and it would be a shame to end it without something delicious."

"Your logic is flawed, but I find myself swayed regardless."

"Good!" She grinned at him and hooked her arm through his, carefully avoiding the jar of beetles he still had in his hand.


	2. Start of Something New

"What kind do you want, Shino-kun?" Sakura looked at the platters of dango and then looked at him expectantly.

"I have no preference."

She scoffed and poked at his uninjured side. "Everyone has a preference! Don't be so stoic all the time."

"If I choose, will you cease your manhandling?"

Sakura smiled sunnily at him. "Nope! What's a little manhandling between friends?" She reran that sentence through her mind and felt vaguely embarrassed.

 _Ah well, it's Shino-kun. He's not likely to tease me about it, unlike_ some _boys I could think of. Some perverted boys with perverted jutsu!_

"Then I don't see why I have to pick anything."

"Fine, fine. Be difficult." Sakura finally looked at the dango vendor, who was giving them a bemused smile. "Two goma, please!"

The two took their treats to a nearby bench and sat side-by-side in silence, with Shino carefully settling his beetle jar on the far end. Sakura tried to daintily eat her dango and failed as per usual.

 _Why do I even bother? I always get it all over. I'm worse than Naruto with his ramen!_

She tried to think of something interesting to say. Today she had spoken more to Shino than she ever had since they had become acquainted at the Academy. She actually knew very little about the quiet boy next to her.

 _Might as well start with the basics._

"So, Shino-kun, now that we're friends, you should tell me about yourself!"

He turned toward her, inwardly surprised at the question. He had assumed she would follow through with her obligation to him via dango and leave.

"What would you like to know?" He was at a loss. His interactions with his own team made it clear that his social skills weren't exactly standard.

Sakura frowned at him thoughtfully and said, "Do you always answer a question with a question?"

"Evidence of our past conversations suggests the answer to that question is no."

"Hah! I knew you had a sense of humor under there somewhere!" She grinned at him and took a bite of dango, unaware that Shino was slightly bewildered at her comment. He hadn't meant to make a joke.

Sakura finished her skewer and then used it to punctuate her next words. "So, you know, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams. Something along those lines. Kakashi-sensei made us introduce ourselves to him like that." She glowered briefly. "Not that he told us _anything_ about himself in the process."

"Kurenai-sensei had a similar idea. I will tell you what I told my teammates. I like insects, winter melons and fighting. I dislike strong scents and being ignored. I do not have a clearly defined dream."

 _No dream? That's kind of sad. But then, my dream was to marry Sasuke, so I guess we're kinda in the same boat now._

No use dwelling on the past, even if that past was only hours ago. Sakura had never known that Shino was such a fan of fighting, since he was never the troublemaker that Naruto was back in school. She could see now why he had conceded so easily to her request for a spar.

"Shino-kun, would you like to be my sparring partner? You've actually been a big help to me today. I know I don't provide much of a challenge, but …"

"Like I said before, with practice you could be very good. Your idea is agreeable. We can meet after our teams disperse at the same training ground."

"Very good, huh? Well, that's way better than 'pathetic'." Sakura tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but she saw Shino's face minutely twitch into an expression and knew she had failed. She warded off the question she could see forming with her hands. "It's okay, really. Sasuke was having a bad day and took it out on me and Naruto."

 _Mostly me. He just really enjoys fighting Naruto._

"Your team seems very dysfunctional."

She snorted before dissolving into laughter. "Dysfunctional is the _perfect_ word for us, Shino-kun! Did you hear about on our very first C-Rank? It could only have happened to Team 7."

"Naruto was loudly talking about it with Kiba several weeks ago, but somehow I managed to tune him out. I would be willing to listen to your take on it."

"Really?" Sakura was slightly sad that she was so happy that someone would just … listen to her. It showcased how much her priorities the past few years had to do with Sasuke or what he would be interested in. Her rivalry with Ino over the boy meant that she was once again left without the companionship she had relied on from the blonde girl.

"I would not have said so if I didn't mean it."

"Let's just say we are probably the first genin team to go from "first C-Rank" to "immediate A-Rank fighting missing-nin" in Konoha."

"Missing-nin? Surely that can't be true."

Sakura laughed and said, "I swear it! Missing-nin and lying clients and an inhumanly pretty fake hunter-nin. Naruto even got a bridge named after him when we were all done." Her smile wavered as she said, "I was terrified almost the entire time. We all nearly died. The only thing I could think of when I got back was how far behind my team I really was. I didn't do anything useful."

"Then you will have to become useful in the future." His voice was even as usual. He passed no judgment, but also did not disagree with the negative assessment of herself.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Talking to Shino had been very beneficial for her peace of mind. "I'm glad you were at the training ground today, Shino-kun. You're a good person to know."

Amazingly, she saw a slight tinge of pink on his cheekbones.

 _Ohoho! Shino is a real boy after all._

Because she tried to be a good person as well, Sakura decided to ignore his embarrassment and tried for a different topic of conversation.

"So what are you going to do with those beetles?" She pointed to the glass jar and he looked down as if he had forgotten about them.

"I am attempting to create a new jutsu, but I do not want to subject my kikaichu to an untested experimentation."

"Creating your own jutsu! Shino, that's amazing! What does it do?"

"It would essentially combine my kikaichu with a body flicker technique, allowing them to swarm and move in an instant." He looked away slightly. "I hate to admit that I am having difficulties with forming the precise amount of chakra needed to complete it."

"Maybe I can help? One of the only things Kakashi-sensei said about me is that I have very good natural chakra control."

He curled his hand around the jar. "Are you sure?" When she looked surprised, he clarified. "People are generally uncomfortable with my clan techniques. Especially kunoichi."

"What, the bugs? I mean, it's _got_ to feel weird to have them under your skin like that, but I'm not afraid of them. I spent a lot of my childhood before the Academy in the woods, you know."

 _It's the best place to hide from bullies. The butterflies never told me I had a big forehead._

Shino had the closest thing she's ever seen to a smile on his face. "Can we start now?"


	3. What I've Been Looking For

Shino solemnly led her through the gates of his compound and she tried to inconspicuously look around. Like all of the Noble Clans in the Konoha, the Aburame kept their home hidden behind high walls that surrounded traditional style houses. Unlike the rest of the Noble Clans, it was located at the far end of the village, close to the open fields and tall trees of the Nara forest. Sakura knew it was not usual for outsiders to be allowed entrance without prior permission, so kept close to Shino on the off-chance someone would call her out, but the main path seemed deserted.

He nodded at the largest of the houses. "My home."

"This is a beautiful area, Shino-kun. You must have had a good time growing up here."

"It was acceptable, though my clan does not have many children our age. I had a cousin who … left. He is the inspiration for this jutsu."

She touched his arm, surprising him. "Have you seen him since?"

"No. But I have been breeding his rinkaichu with my kikaichu. It's a part of him I will always have."

"That's sweet, if a little unusual. It definitely suits you." She smiled and hooked her arm through his again. "Well, let's get to work."

They had arrived at a small training area past the main houses, the ground packed with indications of heavy usage. Shino carefully disengaged his arm from hers and set down the jar of beetles.

"So tell me how far you've gotten with this technique and I will see if I can be useful!"

Shino nodded. "The first step is to call forth the kikaichu in a swarm. Once they are assembled, I can use the tiger seal to form the shunshin, moving them quickly toward my target. I have only been able to move both myself _and_ the kikaichu, which is inefficient as I am attempting to create a quick, long-range weapon."

She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Can I see a demonstration? Since you have already done this part, could you use your actual kikaichu for it?"

"Yes." Suddenly his insects were just _there_ , hovering around his left arm. Sakura watched him form the hand seal for a shunshin and then he was directly in front of her, kikaichu buzzing with frenetic energy. Even though she had sparred with him earlier, Sakura was still impressed by his speed and efficiency.

 _Why couldn't I have been put on his team? Kurenai-sensei would have been so much better than Kakashi-sensei!_ She thought in despair. _Though I bet Kiba is just as bad as Naruto._

Shino was still close to her, waiting. He seemed to be anticipating a negative reaction to his proximity so she was happy to disappoint him and instead leaned forward toward his kikaichu. "Are these guys found in the natural world? Or are they bred specifically for the use in human bodies?"

"Those found in the Aburame Clan can no longer be considered what they once were. They have been bred extensively for our battle and espionage techniques."

"And they consume chakra?"

"Yes."

"Could they _use_ chakra?"

"Perhaps. This is something I had not considered, though kikaichu lack the proper functionality to create seals."

"The research I've done on hand seals tells me that it is possible to perform techniques without using them. You just have to improve your control to get there and once _you_ have control, _they_ have control. It's a way to approach your problem from a different angle, at least." She raised a hand toward the kikaichu flitting about them. "May I?"

Shino had to hide his astonishment at her request, but still directed one of them to land on her open palm. She raised it to eye level and studied it carefully. He was curious, a feeling he did not frequently have about most people.

"Why were you researching hand seals?"

She laughed sheepishly, but kept her eyes on the kikaichu that was exploring her hand inquisitively. "Ah, well, research is a hobby. As soon as I graduated, I took my hitai-ate to the library and gained access to the genin section. It's what I have been doing every day after team training."

 _Or during, since Kakashi-sensei is too lazy to show up on time!_

"It is unusual for a kunoichi our age to be so well-read."

Her eyes shot to his impassive face, annoyed. "Hey! Don't start sounding like Shikamaru now, Shino-kun. We only just became friends."

"I'm sorry, I did not intend to be offensive."

Sakura huffed, "I don't see how that statement could have been anything _but_ offensive."

"I was only basing it on my observations. Your Academy ranking did not indicate a high interest in attaining the necessary skills we were learning and the other girls in our class were similar."

She was embarrassed at the way the conversation had turned, but answered him anyway. "My paper scores were always the top of the class. I was just mediocre to terrible at all the things a real shinobi would require, like accurate aim or taijutsu ability."

"Ah." They both fell silent. Sakura cursed her past self for being so hung up on Sasuke and Shino felt like he had made an error, but was unaware of how to fix it.

She tried to tamp down her insecurity and turned her attention back to the kikaichu that was making itself at home on her, having now crawled from her palm to her forearm. She looked up at Shino, wondering if he was controlling it, but he was staring at the ground forebodingly.

"How do you work with them? I mean, how do you control them? I never see you use anything that requires seals whenever they're around."

"They are attuned to our chakra, a process that starts when a colony is implanted into us as infants. We create a connection that is like a resonance or an awareness of will."

"So basically, they are an extension of your force of will? Very poetic, Shino-kun!" Amazingly, his cheeks tinged pink again as she teased him, her earlier embarrassment forgotten in her enjoyment of _his_ embarrassment.

 _Who cares if I sucked at shinobi skills back then? I have potential, I_ will _get better! And Shino is kind of cute when he gets all red like that._

The swarm surrounding his arm had slowly faded away, under the sleeves of his long jacket. Sakura's little friend eventually joined the others and she walked over to the jar of beetles, dangling it in front of his face.

"I have an idea, but it might not work with these guys. How is your control over non-kikaichu insects?"

"Excellent."

"So modest, Shino-kun!" She laughed delightedly, but refrained from poking at him again. "I think we could use some of that will of yours to work these guys into a tiger seal for the shunshin. If you can manage it with them, using your kikaichu will be a piece of cake."

"That is a satisfactory experiment."

"Good! I'll observe and see if I can't help somehow, though I bet some Byakugan eyes would be a big asset right now."

"You are correct, but Hinata-san is not allowed here."

Sakura was attempting to unstop the jar and nearly dropped it in surprise at his words. "What? Hinata is your teammate! Surely your parents can make an exception?"

"It is her father that made this rule, not mine." He looked vaguely disgruntled, but resigned. She noticed it was a common look for him, outside his normal impassive demeanor.

"I'm sorry, Shino-kun. Those Hyuugas have their noses so far up in the air they'd probably drown in a downpour." He snorted a laugh and looked surprised at himself. "Hah! There's that sense of humor again. I knew I could wrangle it out eventually."

"Perhaps. Hinata-san is an exception to your stuck up Hyuuga proclamation."

She had finally gotten the jar open and was gently tapping the beetles onto the firmly packed earth of the training ground. "This is true, Hinata is a nice girl. She's so shy, though, it's hard to get to know her. She reminds me of myself before Ino got a hold of me."

"So it is Ino-san we should all blame for your terrorizing fists."

"Shino-kun, was that a joke? Forget the jutsu, I think we've made real personal progress here today!" She sat down happily and stretched out her legs, ignoring the skittering insects in front of her.

He said nothing, but she saw the corner of his mouth twitch up into a vague smile.

 _It's a start!_

"Okay, Aburame. Work your magic."


	4. When There Was You And Me

Two weeks later saw Sakura doing her katas by herself again, but this time she wasn't bothered by it. The day after she and Shino met again for the second time, she had successfully managed to nag Kakashi into doing his duty as a teacher and he had working with her independently. Today he had been summoned by the Hokage early on in their "team training" session and left with a vague warning to keep working. She had shrugged and kept at it, ignoring Naruto and Sasuke's bickering interspersed with the heavy thumps of hits being landed.

"Oi, Shino! What are you doing here? You wanna fight?"

Sakura went through the motions of her last kata and then turned to see Shino walking toward their training ground. She squinted at the sun, realizing much more time had passed than she had realized. She was late meeting him at their usual spot and he was here to fetch her. It gave her a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach to know that he enjoyed her company that much.

"While I never like to turn down a good spar, I do have a prior obligation." He nodded in her direction and she smiled at him.

"Shino-kun! Are you implying I'm _not_ a good fight?" She put her hands on her hips and pouted mockingly while Naruto goggled at their behavior.

"I would never do such a thing in your hearing."

"Pft, mean! So mean to me, Shino-kun, after all I've done for you."

"I did not realize that eating half my dango was a favor, Sakura- _chan_."

"That was _one_ time! Plus, a good shinobi should never let himself be distracted."

They had naturally started walking away toward the merchant area of Konoha, forgetting entirely about her teammates as Sakura teased Shino into revealing his exceptionally dry sense of humor. It had become something of a hobby for her, especially when she would get him good and his lips would crease into a smile.

"H-hey, Sakura-chan, where are you going? I thought _we_ were gonna have a date today!"

She touched Shino's arm to stop and rolled her eyes with fond irritation. Sakura turned around to Naruto's flabbergasted face, staring at the finger pointed directly at her nose. Sasuke didn't say anything, but he was watching the proceedings with something that could almost be called curiosity.

 _Huh, to think all I needed to do to get his attention was ignore him. That never would have occurred to me before._

"Naruto, I don't know how many times I have to tell you, I will _never_ go on a date with you. You're my teammate and we shouldn't mess with that." He pouted.

 _Aw, so cute. Like a puppy._

At her statement, Sasuke's curious look had grown into a full grown smirk. "Does this mean you're going to leave me alone now, Sakura?"

She felt herself blush slightly, but just crossed her arms and sniffed disdainfully. " _If_ you'll recall, Sasuke, I have not bothered you in weeks. I'm past such foolish infatuations." She dropped her arms and gave him a dangerous glare. "Besides, it never would have worked between us. You're too single-minded."

She spun around to leave, but not before she saw his shocked, wide-eyed reaction.

 _Good! That'll teach him to underestimate me!_

Without a word, Shino kept pace with her as she marched out of the area in high dudgeon, walking for nearly ten minutes before she realized that she wasn't headed in any particular direction.

"I don't think tomorrow's team training is going to be any fun, Shino-kun. I might have just broken Sasuke and Naruto."

He made a small sound that could have been amusement or perhaps a strangled cough. "They certainly looked surprised." He glanced at her. "I was also surprised to hear you speak to Sasuke-san in that manner."

"My crush on Sasuke is now a thing of the past, an embarrassment of my childhood."

Shino gave her a flat look. "We're thirteen, Sakura. I don't think you can claim old maid status quite yet."

"Hmph." With that witty rebuttal, she grabbed his hand and dragged him through the crowded merchant stalls. "I'm in the mood for barbecue today. What about you?"

"As always, I do not have much of an opinion on the matter. Barbecue is acceptable."

She and Shino had taken to meeting up after their respective team trainings to work on his jutsu and spar together. After their first day of dango, they had established a pattern of enjoying a meal after training or before more cerebral work. They had agreed yesterday to do research in the Aburame archives this afternoon, so Sakura felt justified in steering Shino toward Yakiniku Q.

"Ino-Pig says that this is the best place in Konoha, though she diets so much I can't imagine she's eaten half a plate of food in all the times Asuma-sensei has brought them here."

"Depriving yourself of proper nutrients is a dangerous habit in our line of work."

"I know, believe me. I've been where she is and it sucks, but boys like a svelte figure."

"I imagine boys also tend to like their girlfriends alive and uninjured, which is not something that would happen if you fainted mid-fight with an enemy."

"Hey, hey," she waved her hands defensively, "like I said, a thing of the past. I was only ever trying to get Sasuke's attention, anyway. You like me the way I am, right, Shino-kun?" She batted her eyelashes at him in an exaggerated fashion and was highly amused by his red face.

 _This is way more fun than trying to impress Sasuke._

"I do." Sakura smiled at his blunt honesty. "But the way you are now is still terrible at taijutsu." Her smile faltered and she smacked his arm hard as he gave a genuine laugh and rubbed at his injured limb.

Shino opened the door for her and they entered to see a cheerful looking hostess working studiously on a book of crosswords. As she led them to the side of the restaurant, Sakura heard someone call her name. Or something like it.

"Forehead? What are you doing here?"

She came to a stop at the call and looked at Shino questioningly. He indicated that he would go back to their booth while she stayed to speak with Ino and left silently.

Sakura turned around to see Ino looking between her and Shino calculatingly. "Ino-Pig, it's a restaurant. What do you think I'm doing here?"

Ino ignored that jibe in favor of squealing at her, "Are you on a _date?_ With _Shino_?"

" _I_ am having dinner with a _friend_. I'm sure you've heard of that term once or twice." She nodded to Ino's team who were being ignored by the blonde girl thus far. "Hello, Choji, Shikamaru, Asuma-sensei."

Choji waved through his mouthful of pork and Shikamaru just grunted in response. Asuma greeted her with a lazy smile. "Hi, Sakura-chan, was it? You're on Kakashi's team, aren't you?"

"That's right, we're Team 7. A disaster waiting to happen."

He laughed heartily. "I'll be sure to tell Kakashi you have such a high opinion of him."

"If he doesn't already know, I'll be very surprised." She looked back over her shoulder to see Shino sitting stiffly in their booth, clearly waiting to order until she arrived. "Look, Ino-Pig, I have to go. I don't want Shino-kun to starve just to satisfy your curiosity."

She waved at the boys again and left Ino sputtering about "Shino- _kun_ " as she swiftly joined him at their table.

"Did you have a productive conversation with Ino-san?"

Sakura snorted and reached for the tea that had been set in the middle of the table. She poured for him and then herself, blowing on the cup. "Ino is just sticking her pig nose where it doesn't belong, as usual."

"Ah. That does seem to be a habit of hers."

"Hah! Got that right. Just so you know, she's no doubt going to spread word that we're on a date right now. I just wanted to warn you."

Sakura could actively feel the nervous energy coming from his kikaichu at her words. He fidgeted unusually and quietly said, "Are we?"

She flushed a bit, but tried to be as honest with him as he always was with her, no matter how embarrassing. "Well, as you said before, we're only thirteen. I don't think dating is really a thing we should focus on right now. But I'm not totally against it in the future." Sakura's eyes brightened. "And that means you'll have to pay for dinner!"

"As a strong, capable kunoichi, I would think you would want our relationship, whatever it is, to be entirely equal."

She wagged a finger at him and said, "Oh, I see what you're doing. Trying to ply me with flattery to get out of paying. I'm onto you, Aburame."

"Did it work?"

She sighed in resignation. "Yes, fine. You win this time!"

Their server came to take their order and arrived in short time with platters of vegetables and strips of beef. The two busied themselves with grilling and were soon enjoying the fruits of their miniscule labor.

"I hate to say it, but Ino-Pig _was_ right about this place." She grabbed a piece of beef out from under Shino's chopsticks and he gave her a mildly affronted look, which she ignored. "Say, Shino-kun, why do you wear your glasses inside too?"

"The contract we have with the kikaichu has evolved to interfere with the chakra channels behind our eyes, leaving them very sensitive to light."

"That doesn't seem very efficient for a shinobi."

"It's a small price to pay for the abilities we are granted. If we cannot keep an enemy from knocking off our eyewear, we're not worthy enough for the kikaichu's power."

"If you say so," she said doubtfully. "So what did you do with your team today? I bet Kurenai-sensei is a great teacher."

"She is a skilled jonin and Konoha is lucky to have her in their ranks."

"Oh, sounds like someone has a crush, Shino-kun~"

"Now you're being ridiculous. Regardless, Kurenai-sensei is attached to Asuma-sensei."

Her eyes lit up. " _Really_? Well, I don't blame her one bit. Or him. They're a good looking couple."

"If you say so." He ignored her muttered _"hmph, I do_ " and went on blithely, "Team 8 has been vetted as a possibly tracking squad, which is probably why we were all placed together. Today Hinata-san and I were to aid one another in concealing ourselves from Kiba and Akamaru."

"Tracking, huh? I wonder what they were thinking when they made my team." She tapped her fingers on her chin. "I nearly forgot that Kiba always has Akamaru with him. It's almost like having a fourth teammate, isn't it?"

"It's more often that between Kiba and his dog, we have one vaguely competent shinobi."

Sakura giggled, "Surely he's not _that_ bad!"

With a nearly imperceptible sigh, Shino conceded the point. "No, he has gotten much better since we have been assigned, as has Hinata-san. But she is still exceptionally timid and he is still exceptionally reckless."

"And you, Shino-kun? What's your big flaw in this team?"

"I'm sure it exists, though I cannot see it for myself."

"It must be so nice to have such confidence!"

They finished their meal soon after, with Shino paying. She teased him for making a big fuss over _not_ doing that very thing earlier, but inwardly she was pleased. Even if they weren't dating ( _yet_ , she thought) he was already proving himself to be a thousand times better as a companion than Sasuke could ever dream of. Regardless, she was pretty sure Sasuke's dreams were filled with killing "that man", which left no room for her or her need for dinner dates and actual conversation with words, instead of non-committal grunts.

 _Really, it's a wonder I was stuck on him for so long! Was it the pretty face?_

She caught sight her two teammates when she and Shino left Yakiniku Q, with Naruto dragging Sasuke behind him toward the ramen stall. The Uchiha had a mulish look on his face as he petulantly allowed himself to be maneuvered.

 _It was definitely just the pretty boy factor. He has such a terrible attitude toward everything._

A thought came to her and she giggled helplessly. When Shino looked at her in askance, she nodded in the direction of the boys and stage-whispered, "Looks like Naruto got his ramen date after all!"


End file.
